


The In Between Moments

by TakingOverMidnight3482



Series: Julie and the Phantoms One-Shots: Ghostly Mishaps [13]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Canon Divergent, Coming Out, Everyone Is Gay, Friendship, Gen, Missing Scenes, alex is bad at guitar, past Luke/Alex, set during the series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:15:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26982001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TakingOverMidnight3482/pseuds/TakingOverMidnight3482
Summary: “No, that might be our best bet. We just…need to get rid of the opening band somehow.” At the silence, Alex scoffed. “Not like kill them, yeesh.”Julie snorted. “And how do we do that? ‘Hey Mr. Lead Singer, can you just not come to your once in a lifetime opportunity performance tonight so that my ghost friends can cross over instead of having to be destroyed or enslaved for all of eternity?'”“Willie,” Reggie said suddenly, sitting up again.
Relationships: Alex & Julie Molina, Alex & Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms)
Series: Julie and the Phantoms One-Shots: Ghostly Mishaps [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1925116
Comments: 20
Kudos: 508





	The In Between Moments

**Author's Note:**

> First moment is set between when the guys are haunting Bobby and when they first arrive at the HGC, and the second scene is before they get Willie to steal the other bands tour bus. 
> 
> Might turn The In Between Moments into a mini series within this series if I can think of enough. I just wanted these two to go together because gay.

“You like Willie.”

Reggie’s voice was so confident, so gentle and teasing, and Alex choked on his own spit, tensing his shoulders up around his ears and tightening his grip on his drumsticks. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, staring resolutely at his drums.

A hand settled on his shoulder, firm but nonthreatening. Alex hunched under Reggie’s touch but didn’t move away. “Dude. I’m not _that_ dumb,” Reggie chuckled. “I saw the way you blushed on the helicopter pad. He seems like a great dude. I’m happy for you, man.”

Alex relaxed, sneaking a glance at Reggie, who was giving him a smile that could light up an entire room. “Yeah?”

Reggie’s fingers squeezed. “Yeah. Why so nervous?”

Alex furrowed his brows and glanced back to his drums, running his fingers absently over a cymbal. “Just…don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable,” he said with a shrug. “Especially since…”

He trailed off, tongue heavy in his mouth, and Reggie hummed. “Since Luke?”

Alex whipped around in surprise, staring up at his bandmate with his jaw hanging. “How did you-?”

Reggie’s smile had softened, and his eyes glimmered with mirth and an underlying layer of hurt that sucker punched Alex in the gut. “Like I said. Not dumb, dude. I totally noticed all the extra time you guys spent together. Totally ditched me and Bobby half the time.”

Alex’s brain hurt. “Did he-?”

“Nah,” Reggie said with a shake of his head. “Too focused on the chicks we were attracting.” He frowned, glancing down. “I probably wouldn’t have noticed, to be honest, if I hadn’t been spending most of my nights here and caught you guys holding hands a couple times,” he teased. Paused, thoughtfully, and then: “Almost kissing once.”

Alex buried his face in his hands, sure he was about to combust from embarrassment. “I am so…I thought we were being careful,” he whispered.

Reggie’s hand was still steady on his shoulder. “Hey. You don’t need to be careful.” Alex peeked up at him through his fingers to find Reggie with his brows furrowed, pain etched over his face. “Not around me, dude. I wouldn’t have said anything you didn’t want me to. Still won’t. About Luke or Willie, if you don’t want.”

Reggie let his hand fall and Alex missed the contact, suddenly. The bassist twisted his ring around his finger, offering up a small smile. “Who you like doesn’t make me uncomfortable. In case that wasn’t clear. And I’m happy for you.”

He turned to go and Alex panicked, flinging his hand out and catching Reggie around the wrist. Reggie turned back, an eyebrow lifted and gaze curious. Alex swallowed, tightened his grip, poured as much meaning as he could into his words. “I’m sorry we didn’t tell you,” he said softly. “It wasn’t because…because we were worried about you. We just…”

Reggie’s hand twisted until their fingers were laced loosely together. He squeezed. “Were worried about everyone else. I know. It’s okay, dude.”

“Thank you,” Alex said, breathless. He needed Reggie to know, to understand, how much he meant to him. “ _Thank you_. For not…”

Reggie tisked and tugged Alex up and off his stool, dragging him into a tight hug. “Duh, dude. Not my place. Same way Willie’s not my place. Luke’s gonna know, though. He’s not as dense as we all think.”

Alex chuckled, clinging to Reggie for just one second longer before pulling back and giving him a warm smile. “Love you, man.”

Reggie’s grin was lopsided, soft, and the hurt Alex had seen in his eyes earlier was gone. “Love you too, dude. Now come on, lets get ready to go get your man.”

~~

Luke was pacing.

It was a nice change of events, given that it was usually Alex doing the model strut, as Reggie liked to call it, but Alex could see why everyone got irked when he did it. He was starting to get dizzy. He was a little jealous of Flynn, who couldn’t see the anxious ghost practically rotating around the room.

She and Julie were cross legged on the floor in front of the couch (why they didn’t just sit on the couch was beyond him), both of them pouring over a website that had all the upcoming Orpheum bookings on it. Reggie was in the chair to Flynn’s left, plucking at his guitar strings intermittently so he could talk to Flynn without Julie having to interpret. Alex was at his drums for the same reason, and Luke’s guitar was slung across his back.

“Dude, knock it off,” Alex finally groaned. “That’s not helping.”

Luke threw his hands in the air, dragging his guitar around to play a couple chords while he spoke. “Well it’s not like anyone else has any genius ideas on how to get us to play the most notorious club in Hollywood before we cease to exist!”

Flynn and Julie both winced, and Reggie frowned, slumping lower in his chair. Alex sighed and started tapping out a steady, boring beat. “I know. But it’s not like we can just poof inside and change the performance listings.”

“Why can’t we?” Flynn asked, sitting up straight, her eyes wide. When Julie looked at her (and the guys, though Alex knew she wasn’t aware of that part), she huffed. “Sorry, dumb idea. They wouldn’t just magically forget about the opening band. And no way we can get rid of Panic without anyone noticing.”

“No, no,” Alex said, warming to the idea. The girls looked over at him in surprise. “No, that might be our best bet. We just…need to get rid of the opening band somehow.” At the silence, he scoffed. “Not like _kill_ them, yeesh.”

Julie snorted. “And how do we do that? ‘Hey Mr. Lead Singer, can you just not come to your once in a lifetime opportunity performance tonight so that my ghost friends can cross over instead of having to be destroyed or enslaved for all of eternity?'”

“Willie,” Reggie said suddenly, sitting up again.

Alex froze as everyone looked at Reggie. “What?”

“Willie could do it,” Reggie said, sounding excited. “He has all the cool powers we don’t, and he could like…I don’t know, destroy their tour bus or something? Detour the opening band without actually hurting them.”

“Hold up,” Julie said, crossing her hands together in an X. “Who’s Willie?”

“Glad I’m not the only one lost for once,” Flynn muttered.

Reggie and Luke looked at Alex first, which meant that Julie’s gaze drifted to him, which meant that Flynn followed her gaze, and then suddenly everyone in the room was staring at him (or in his general direction). “Um. He’s a ghost we met.”

The guys both nodded discreetly at him and then looked back at Julie, who had furrowed her brow. “How do you know we can trust him? Does he even know you guys are in trouble?”

Alex winced, the pace on his drumming picking up as his anxiety started kicking in. “Um. He…so Caleb kind of owns his soul? So he’s…kind of the reason this is happening, but it’s not his fault at all because like I said, Caleb owns his soul and can like, completely destroy him. B-But he said he’d help us if we figured something out, and I think he’d be down to do this if we asked. He’s really chill like that. We screamed in a museum together once.”

Julie blinked a couple times, her brows knitted together. Flynn had a similar look, but in seconds, it was gone, replaced with an impish grin. Alex wished he could shoot her a scowl, but she spoke before he could figure out if a thrown drum stick would hit her or sail through her. “Ohhhh, you _like_ Willie.”

He flinched, watching as Julie’s head whipped between Flynn and Alex, Alex and the other guys. To their credit, Luke and Reggie stayed quiet, not even playing their instruments anymore.

Flynn, hearing the sudden silence, wrinkled her nose. “Oh. Um. Sorry, did I…did I overstep?” she asked, her shoulders slumping in dismay as she looked in Alex’s general direction.

Julie was staring at him, and the way her lips had parted, how her eyes had softened, how the slightest smile was starting to tug at her lips, made the ball of anxiety in Alex’s chest start to unravel. “No. No, it’s okay Flynn,” he promised, breathing out slowly and focusing on the feeling of the drum sticks in his hands. “Um. Yeah, Willie’s like…kind of my boyfriend?” he said, shutting an eye as the end of the sentence came out at a squeak. “Maybe? If we don’t uh…stop existing. Maybe.”

Luke was struggling not to laugh, and Reggie was biting down on his lip to stop a smile so hard that he’d probably be bleeding if he could. Julie’s lips were twitching in amusement and Flynn had started smirking. “Well…then let’s loop him in. If it’s safe for him to do it.”

Luke started playing again. “I’ll go look for him. Caleb will be watching out for Alex, not me.”

“I’m coming with,” Reggie said, in a tone that left no room for arguments. “No going alone.”

Luke nodded and glanced at Julie. “You guys work out the logistics? We’ll be back as soon as we can, just as soon as we find him and ask.”

Julie nodded. “Go.”

Luke and Reggie set their instruments down and poofed from the room, leaving Alex alone with the girls. He took a deep breath, moving from the drums to the seat Reggie had vacated. He grabbed Reggie’s bass as he sat. He’d never been great at guitar, but he’d picked up enough to play simple nursery rhymes, and he wanted to be able to see what Julie and Flynn were doing on the computer while they worked.

Julie’s lips quirked as he started a poorly plucked rendition of “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” “Ah, I understand why you’re the drummer now.”

He snorted and rolled his eyes. “Shut up. Who’s the band, and where’s their bus?”

Julie glanced at the search engine and then back at Flynn. Both girls looked towards Alex. “Sorry for like…forcing you to come out,” Flynn said softly, not quite meeting Alex’s gaze (though he knew she couldn’t help it). “I would have hated if that happened to me too.”

Alex shook his head, remembered Flynn couldn’t see him. “No, it’s chill. The guys knew. Just…hadn’t really found a good time to say anything to you guys yet. Didn’t think it would matter, given everything.” He paused, reassessing her words, and lifted an eyebrow. “Too?”

Flynn’s lips twitched into a smirk. “Bisexual,” she offered, tilting her head. “ _Someone_ here didn’t know my parents didn’t know yet and almost spilled the beans about my first girlfriend.”

Julie threw her hands up. “I was 14!”

Alex chuckled, warmth in his cheeks, and Julie shot him a devious smile. “Ditto, by the way. On being bi. Haven’t told the other guys yet.”

Alex started on “Hot Cross Buns,” shaking his head. “Somehow, I don’t think they’ll care. Now, how do we sabotage a bus without accidentally murdering it’s occupents?”

Flynn cracked her knuckles, then her neck, and leaned into the computer, her fingers flying across the keys. Julie made eye contact with Alex over her head and gave him the gentlest smile he’d ever seen on her, her eyes glittering.

He couldn’t help but smile back.


End file.
